Way Back Into Love
by MCMLXXVIII
Summary: Having to water people's plants while her friend is away, Kate Beckett finds herself inside the home of Richard Castle, a former member of the band Pop. And now, she has to help him write a new song. A story based on the movie Music and Lyrics.
1. Chapter 1

"We think it's gonna be bigger than American Idol." The man grinned at him proudly after his little presentation about his show. "So what do you think, Rick?"

"Well, I love it!" Rick Castle announces excitedly. "It's so brilliant on so many levels. I don't even know where to start."

"Well good for you because some of the people we approached have had a little problem with the term _has been_."

Rick laughed. "Not me. I don't share that. I am a happy has been. Really. It's a very clear statement: I live in the past. Everything good I did was long ago so don't expect anything new or exciting from me now. It really takes the pressure off."

"Especially on a first date." He adds winking at the guy's assistant.

Damn, he really needs to start remembering the names of the people he meet with. What if he had to sue?

"Good for you." The man says as he takes his seat. "So, we already taped several shows and we're going to start airing them this week."

The man chatters on, mentioning out names of the other performers that's gonna be on the show.

Pfft. If those are his competitors, they could just give him the trophy already.

"So, how many songs will I get to perform?" Rick asks, displaying his boyish charms.

"I'd like to do two. One ballad and one more up-tempo number where I get to... shake it a bit." He emphasizes the last part with a wiggle in his seat that was meant to be attractive. Although, the look on the man's face across him says otherwise.

"I cannot promise any of the acts that there will be singing." The man explains.

Rick's brow furrowed. "I'm sorry. I'm confused. What will we be doing then?"

"Boxing."

* * *

Rick Castle winced as he follows the sidewalk on the way to his apartment. He didn't really expect the show to be about boxing.

True, his career isn't as huge as it was in the 80's but he doesn't think he's gonna be able to stoop down to boxing with some fellow forgotten pop artist from their time to get people's attention. He likes his pretty face too much.

He might be open minded but he's not that open minded. Paula is so gonna pay for not telling him.

He enters his apartment only to find Paula making coffee in his kitchen.

"Oh, my manager." He greets sarcastically as he gets through his door.

"Listen, listen." Paula calls out following him into his office. "I had no idea they were gonna do boxing. No one said a word to me. I swear."

"No, it's okay." He replies, beelining into his kitchen as Paula trails behind. "I can totally beat them all out. We did a tour with some of them back in '89 and we beat them severely. They cried like little girls."

"Alright, it's my fault and I hate myself for it" Paula starts. "But I am not upset. Do you know why?."

Rick glanced up from his fridge. "You've been to my liquor?"

Paula glared at that.

"Because of her." She continued, producing a copy of The Rolling Stone tucked below her arm.

"Cora Corman. Biggest star in the world. Bigger than Britney and Christina put together. And.. Guess who she loves." She asks waving the magazine in her hands.

"Her country?" Rick guesses.

"You. She's a huge Pop fan and she wants to meet you, Richard." Paula exclaims excitedly.

Rick opens his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. He held up a hand to his manager before moving to see who's outside.

"Hey." He greets before even registering the sight before him. A beautiful young woman stood hesistantly by his door. Oh, what has he done right to deserve this?

"May I help you?" He asks after a moment.

"Oh, I thought Jane told you. I'm gonna have to do your plants for a couple of days. She already told Eduardo below so he let me up. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. It's the only time I'm available today." The woman babbled and he can't help but laugh.

"Okay, come in."

"I'm Kate by the way." The woman introduced before getting in.

"And, oh, you don't have to worry about me being some criminal or something. I'm a cop." She adds with a wink, making his eyes widen and jaw drop.

Did she just say cop? That is so hot.

She turns to glare at him.

He just said that aloud didn't he?

Rick just shrugged sheepishly and she made her way to his couch to place her stuffs, completely ignoring him.

Maybe this day is not that bad after all.

* * *

Kate Beckett grunts as she climbs up Rick Castle's apartment building. Her friend Jane had to fly to Texas with her family because her aunt is very ill. She had known Jane for years ever since she moved to her current apartment. She knew how hard she works and when Jane asked her to proxy for her for a few days, Kate couldn't help but agree. Even if it means she has to sacrifice some time from her own job.

Doing plants aren't really what she's been trained to do but she can manage for a while. Not too long though or friendship be damned she might start shooting her friend's clients.

Eduardo, the doorman, was so gracious about letting her in when she told him about Jane. Her friend already gave him a heads up and that made it easier for Kate.

Kate looked at the address in her hand. Okay, this is it. She took a deep breath and raised her fist to knock.

She hears voices from the people inside before the door opened.

"Hey," The man greets and she just stared at him.

He looks really familiar but she can't quite place where she has seen him before.

"May I help you?" He asks before she manages to form a reply.

She explains to him this new arrangement and he lets her in his loft without any qualms. Hmm, he's a vulnerable target. Her cop instincts kick in. He may have a doorman but he shouldn't be letting people in this easily into his home. Especially since he clearly has money to burn.

"And, oh, you don't have to worry about me being some criminal or something. I'm a cop." She says, hinting him about it. He just looked at her with an expression a little close to awe and she can't help but wink at him.

She is stood in his foyer examining the details of his home when she heard him say, "That is so hot."

She gave him a glare. She came here to water his plants and not to earn a come-on from him. He just gave her a shrug.

Kate ignored him and placed her things in his couch before turning back to with a clap of her hand. "So, where can I find your plant stuffs?"

* * *

 _A/N: I am really nervous and hesitant about this but please tell me what you think :))_


	2. Chapter 2

Rick just stood in his living room as he watches Kate open his kitchen cabinets. He haven't even noticed Paula making her way up to him.

"A plant lady?" She asks incredulously. "Why do you need a plant lady? Why do you even have plants?"

Rick scoffed. "Women can come by from time to time and plants make them feel comfortable."

Paula laughed.

"So, that's way your past marriages worked so well." She says sarcastically and he gave her a glare.

His manager just shrugged before going back to their earlier topic. "So, Cora Corman?"

"Is that even a good idea?" He asks, moving to the kitchen to help Kate find his watering can.

"Of course it is! It's big money." Paula exclaims, following him.

"Okay, okay." He concedes. "I'll think about it."

"Great!" Paula applauds. "Because Cora is shooting a music video tonight and she wants to meet the two of us right after."

He fails to repond when he gets caught up looking at Kate doing his plants. Oh, that came out dirtier than he intended.

"Really?" Rick barely hears Paula say and so he startles when she grabbed his ear.

"Oww, Ow! Apples! Apples!" He exclaims trying to pull Paula's hand away from his ear.

He soothes it with his hand when she finally released it.

"Seriously, Rick, your plant girl?"

"She's a cop." He defends and Paula moves to reach for his ear again. He's quick to duck this time.

"Focus." She glares.

"Okay, fine. Sorry."

They were interrupted by a loud shrill of a phone from across the room. He sees Kate scramble for it, cursing as she tries to balance the watering can on her other hand.

"Beckett." She greets to the speaker. "Okay, I'll be right there."

"I'm sorry, something came up on work and I have to go." She tells him as she returns the watering can. "I promise, I'll be back."

She grabbed her things from his couch and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from asking her where she works as she gets out his door.

"Cora Corman, 8 o'clock." Paula says sharply with an accompanying glare before following the other woman out of his home.

* * *

Kate Beckett ducked below the crime scene tape and made her way to her partners Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito who are already stood beside a dead body.

She sees Ryan not so subtly elbow his partner as he sees Beckett approaching.

"Hey. Beckett!" Esposito greets mockingly obviously taking note of her late arrival. "What got you tied up?"

She hears Ryan snicker behind him. She rolled her eyes at them. "I had things to take care of, okay."

"Are you sure they're things and not some guy, Beckett?"

She huffed. "No. And even if it was, it's none of your business."

"Hey, Lanie." Kate greets the medical examiner crouched beside their body. "What have we got?"

Lanie raised a brow at her. "Me? What have you got? It's ten o'clock and you just got here. Case or not, you're usually at the precinct by eight. What changed?"

Beckett sighs exasperatedly. "Really? You, too?"

Lanie just looked at her still obviously waiting for an explanation. The dead body can wait, apparently. Well, it's not like it can complain.

"Fine. I had to water people's plants while a friend is away."

She senses Ryan and Esposito barely holding backa laugh.

"Hey! It's a decent job okay. And she earns pretty good money for a job you can do in five to ten minutes." She looked at them with narrowed eyes.

"Now can we go back to the victim please?" Kate asks, tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear.

Lanie finally acquiesed as she carry on to explain their current situation.

* * *

Rick and Paula stared at the woman dancing to some Indian themed song with guys all over her. Are these the kind of stuffs kids enjoy nowadays? Thank God his daughter does not like stuffs like this. Oh, God, she doesn't, does she?

"She seems like a very spiritual girl." Paula comments sarcastically.

"I am totally cutting off all television chords at home to keep my daughter from seeing this." He comments as he notice someone approaching.

"I'm sure your daughter won't suffer any more than you." Paula chuckled.

"Touche." He pouted.

"Hello, I'm Ray." The guy who came behind the production crew greeted them.

"Hi, I'm Paula. And this is Rick Castle." His manager introduced and he scrambles for a handshake.

"Hello, Ray-" Rick says, dragging out the name hoping for him to finish.

"Just Ray." The man replies and he hears Paula chuckle beside him. He casts her a glare before following Ray to where Cora Corman is.

"Mr. Castle," Cora greeted as she stood from her seat across the room. "It's a pleasure."

Rick grinned. "Likewise."

"Your song, Dance With Me Tonight, got me through my parents' divorce when I was seven."

Paula snickered beside him, while Rick let out a chuckle. He's not that old, is he?

"Really? Yeah, well, I recorded that when I was 9." He joked, making Paula elbow him on the side.

As if hearing nothing, Cora continued. "I want all my fans to know the spiritual uplift that your music gave me."

Rick barely held back a snort. Spiritual.

"That would be lovely." Paula interjected. "Rick here actually have a couple of tunes that would be great to update."

"Oh, I don't live in the past. That is so long ago. I want Mr. Castle to write a new song."

Rick almost choked. "A-a new song? Cora-"

"You see, I just recently broke up with my boyfriend. We've been together for almost two months. It's a terrible experience."

Rick and Paula attempts a look of faux sympathy.

"But then I read a book by Guru Madashavi called Way Back Into Love so that will be the title of our new song. And in two weeks, when I perform at Madison Square Garden, we'll perform it together." Cora finished with an enthusiastic smile leaving Rick gaping.

"Okay, here's the thing," He chuckled nervously.

"Oh, and we also need to add that on Cora's album, which is pretty much finished. So we need it by Friday." Ray interrupted.

"You mean this Friday?" Rick asks barely concealing his grimace.

"Oh, but no pressure." Ray added. "We have quite a list of people to contact who could do it so if you blow this up, we got it covered."

"Don't look at this as a competition, Mr. Castle. If it's meant to be, it will be. It's destiny." Cora adds.

Rick and Paula nodded.

"Or not." Cora says before folding her hands together and bows at them, Ray following suit.

Rick and Paula returns the gesture awkwardly as Ray and Cora turns to leave.

* * *

"Okay, this is crazy. I can't possibly write a song by Friday. What was she thinking?" Rick Castle complains as soon as they got out of the studio.

"Look, can I be honest with yoou?" Paula interjected.

"Of course not. You are my manager. I'm gonna have to fire you."

Paula just glared. "We need this."

"Well, let's not be desperate." Rick argues. "We have the state fair tours coming up and that's not very far."

"They've cancelled." Paula replied, stopping him in his tracks.

"They cancelled?" He asked, hurt. He's not that bad is he? He's sure he still got people who support him.

"We're still good for the Indiana state fair, okay? But Texas and Arkansas dropped us." Paula sighed, pulling him to continue walking.

"How about the apple picking?"

"The apple picking festival is still a go, but they only wanted three shows instead of ten, alright?"

"Oh my God, I had no idea! Why haven't you told me these things?" He asks incredulously.

"That's why I'm telling you now, Richard." Paula defended. "It's been 15 years since your band Pop. There's some new kid from youtube coming up all the time. Some boy band is on tour, S Club 7 reunion."

"I'm dead." Rick gasped in horror. "I'm dead, Im finished."

"You're not dead." Paula consoled.

"I'm gonna end up doing that boxing thing after all."

"No, you're not. Just that teenage kids now have no idea who you are."

"Well, that's good to know." He deadpanned.

"That's why I'm telling you to grab this opportunity with Cora Corman. How bad can it be?"

Rick laughed. "Paula, I haven't written any song for so long! Like you said, it's been fifteen years! And even then, I had my bandmate Bob as the lyricist. I create the notes. I cannot do this on my own."

"At least try, okay? I saw this new guy, his lyrics are hit on the teens. I'll make him show up at your door tomorrow morning." His manager pats him.

Rick just sighed. He's got no choice after all.

* * *

 _A/N: I'm sorry for the delay on this. I have clearly underestimated the powers of uni in keeping me busy :/ Anyway, there will be more Caskett scenes on the next chapter if you still think I should continue this or if you hate it, I can just delete this story ahaha Leave me a review below._


	3. Chapter 3

A few series of notes reverberate across the room as every finger hits a key.

"I am so sorry." Rick frowns as he tries again.

"Look, man, if you don't like the lyrics be straight with me." The man- Greg is it?- glares at him from across his living room.

"No." Rick chuckles nervously. "The lyrics are very... powerful."

The man across the room rolled his eyes. "Maybe you want something more commercial? More Pop-y." He comments sarcastically.

Rick opened his mouth to reply when a loud series of knocks resounded from his front door.

"Hold that thought." He tells Greg before standing from the piano to open the door, leaving the other man huffing in annoyance on his couch.

"Hey." Kate Beckett greets as soon as he pulled the door open.

"Hello." Rick greets back, day considerably brighter since Greg came into his home.

"Im sorry about yesterday." Kate explains as she enters. "My team have found caught a new case and I was needed."

Rick waves her off, closing the door behind her. "Don't worry. Have you solved it though?"

Kate sighed. "No." We are currently on a dead end but hopefully something comes up when the lab results arrive. I'll get them after this."

"Oh, then why don't you get this over with so you can go on with your job protecting the citizens of New York." Rick grins.

She gave him back a rather shy smile and his heart stutters a beat because she is truly gorgeous. And that wasn't even a full smile yet. He's captivated.

"So, the watering can still in the same place?" She asks, pulling him from his thoughts. He has barely finished his response when she turns to his kitchen to start searching for his plant stuffs.

A throat cleared from behind him and he startles, suddenly remembereing that there's someone else in his home and he's got a job to finish.

"She's kinda hot." Greg comments when Rick returns to the piano making him narrow his eyes without saying a word.

"She's coming at here right?" Greg adds and Rick glares at him further ignoring his comments to try another set of notes for the words the other man has written.

"So, how about," He breathes, putting his fingers on the right keys and start singing the words. "Give it up, I'm a bad hot witch. I look real good but I'm a nasty bitch."

Rick sees Kate do a double take in his peripheral vision as he continued on the song. "I'll scream and claw and curdle your blood. But you'll die on your way back into love."

Rick looks up to Greg hopefully as he finishes the stanza but the other guy is already shaking his head.

"Start on the minor third. Try that." Greg instructs, getting up from his chair to stand beside Rick as he repeats the ridiculous lyrics.

"Come on, you're missing the point! From the first line." Greg growls exasperatedly. "Give it up, I'm a bad hot witch is okay."

Kate snorts from behind Greg as she watered the plants on the corner of his floor-to-ceiling windows.

"Excuse me?" Greg calls out to her and she whips around to face the two men.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to distract you." She apologizes quickly before turning back to her task.

"Are you mocking my lyrics?" He asks Kate and she stops what she's doing and diverts her attention to Greg who is now looking annoyed from across the room.

"No." She explains. "It was just that maybe, you know, you could minimize the profanities?"

Rick perks up. "She has a point." He tells the other man. "Our song's gonna be called Way Back Into Love after all. It's supposed to be romantic."

Greg rubbed his thumb and forefinger at his temple in annoyance. "Well, if all you want are rhymes like moon and June, then why don't you just let plant girl write your song?" He spits out.

Rick sees Kate visibly flinch, rolling her eyes at Greg before going on with watering his plants, muttering "plant girl" to her self.

"Go on, make your lyrics." Greg taunts and Rick fears she might lose her chill. She's a cop after all.

"I'm just here doing what I'm tasked to do, watering the plants." She replies cooly with a tight lipped smile.

"And you're doing a pretty good job, I might add." Rick interrupts quickly as she moves to the smaller plant on the corner. "Although, that one's plastic."

"Oh, oops. Sorry." She grins sheepishly at him before Greg speaks again.

"What now? Feelings? Nothing more than feelings?" He deadpanned.

Kate shrugs. "Could be a start."

"This is a waste of time." Greg complains. "People disgust me." He mutters before grabbing his bag from the couch and turning to leave.

"I'm sorry." Kate turns back to Rick horrified. "I shouldn't have gotten involved. I am used to not having filters in my line of job."

"It's okay. I'm gonna have to replace him soon anyway." Rick grinned, making Kate smile back tentatively. "But now that he mentioned it, have you done any writing before?"

The smile disappeared from her face as she stammers. "Well, everyone has, in some way, done some writing. I mean probably not everyone. But I only write paperwork."

"Have you ever heard of the band Pop?" Rick asks, cutting off her blubbering.

Kate stops and looks up to him, confused at the sudden change of topic. "Yeah, my friend., Lanie, loves them so much." She laughed. "They have those ridiculous hair and those ridiculous outfits-"

Rick smiles sheepishly and Kate's vision focuses on the poster in the doorway of his office. "Oh, my God, you're one of them." She exclaims, making Rick huff out a laugh.

"I am very sorry." She apologizes with a wince. She's been doing that a lot within the hour and Rick just brushes it off again.

"It's fine. But I want to convince you about writing some lyrics."

Kate's eyes widen. "I don't write any lyrics." She informs before moving to grab her stuff from where left them earlier.

"Well, you could always just get some ideas around."

"I don't think so." She replies as she makes her way to the door. "I appreciate the offer though. I have to go report to work now."

She's out of the door within seconds and Rick stared at his empty threshold processing the situation before his brain catches up and he runs after her. He finds her in the hallway waiting for the elevator.

"Have you ever heard of Cora Corman?" He calls out as he jogs his way up to her.

"Umm, yeah. Her posters are everywhere." She answers, brow furrowing.

"Yes, well, I'm writing a song for her." He says making Kate's eyes widen. "Now, if you ever change your mind, I'll be performing at The New York Marriot Marquis tonight."

The elevator arrives before he can continue further. Not that he has more to say anyway. Kate enters it, giving him an apologetic look. "I just can't I'm sorry." She says just as the doors close.

"Okay." He replies to the vacated hallway. Rick walks back to his door, scratching his head. Everything just got a whole lot harder in the span of an hour.

He needs those lyrics and he needs them soon.

* * *

"Hey, Lanie." Kate greeted her friend as she enters the double doors of the morgue. They closed their case just an hour ago and she's hoping she could get dinner with Lanie tonight.

"Hey, girl. I'm almost ready to go. Just give me a sec."

"Okay." Kate replies, lifting herself up to one of the empty examination tables.

"You know I had a very interesting encounter today." She announces as Lanie digs through her drawers looking for something.

"Uh huh. You find a boyfriend to bring tonight?"

Kate just rolled her eyes. "Nope. But this is better."

Lanie straightens. "What do you mea better? Better than a boyfriend?"

Kate smiles as she starts. "You know the job I had to take care of while my friend is away?"

"Watering people's plants? What about it?"

"Well," Kate says, dragging out the word. "Turns out, one of her clients is Richard Castle."

A very loud shriek emitted from across the room. "Richard Castle?" Lanie gasps.

"Yep." Kate nodded. "He asked me to help him write the lyrics to his new song, I said no. But he did tell me where he's performing tonight if I ever change my mind."

"What do you think?" Kate asks her friend who has gone completely silent.

"I think we're gonna go to where he is right now."

It's Kate's turn to gasp. "Lanie! What? We have plans, remember?"

"Yes! But Kate it's Richard Freaking Castle." Her friend replied with child-like excitement. "Come on now."

Kate lets her friend drag her out of the morgue and to the hotel where Richard Castle will be performing. She sighs. She might as well take up on his offer, eh?

* * *

 _A/N: I would just like to take this chance to thank you people who are reading this. It means so much to me. I know that my chapters aren't that long but I am trying to work on them. Next chapter is almost done so it should be up soon (hopefully). For the mean time, maybe you could share me your thoughts, eh? :)) xo_


	4. Chapter 4

Kate and Lanie enters the event room just as Rick is in the middle of his performance. Lanie runs into the crowd of girls flocking him as he performs some old set of moves that was probably meant to be sexy. Kate just rolled her eyes. It seems to be working with the other women though.

Kate takes a moment to scan the room. Taking note of all the bored husbands seated in tables, most likely waiting for their partners to return to their seats after their moment of appreciation to the guy shaking his hips on stage.

She snorts. He looked ridiculous. Kate settled on a corner, much further from the stage where most of the other women in the room are, and watched him perform. He was so engrossed in twisting his hips for the crowd and Kate can't help but chuckle. How is this appealing to these women?

There's a very distinctive hitch on his breath as he bent his knees and Kate grimaced at the sight of him barely limping his way to the seat offered to him by his manager. He finished his song in his seat hissing through the pain. Kate laughed to herself. Old man.

She has to give him credit for finishing the performance though.

* * *

A group of women are gathered as Rick gets off the stage. It took him a couple of minutes to recover from that little setback on stage but he is nowhere near to admitting it's because of his old age yet. He isn't old. He considers himself a classic. Yeah, that sounds better.

In fact, when a woman named Barbara introduced herself to habe met him in Boston, he is willing to spend some time knowing her more. Sadly, his manager, Paula is right there walking behind him that she immediately stopped him when he tried to turn back around.

"But I remember Barbara." He whines as his manager continued to drag him out of the ballroom.

"No, you don't-"

"Hey." A voice interrupted from behind him, causing them to turn around.

"Kate." He breathes. He winces inwardly at himself, hoping that didn't come out sounding too desperate.

"Paula, you remember Kate." He asks and Paula smiles at the other woman.

"Of, course." She says with a smirk. "How can I forget?"

"I'm sorry about earlier." She starts but any further apology is cut off by her company's elbow hitting her side. "This is Lanie." Kate introduces.

Lanie walks up to him with an a sharpie and an album on hand. "Hi, I am a huge fan." She squeaks. "I love you so much. Would you sign this for me please?"

"Of course." He replies gracefully, accepting the things she offered.

"Also, can we take a picture?" She asks and he can't help but chuckle as Lanie basically shoves her camera to, an irritated yet slightly amused, Kate.

"So, I really want to thank you for your offer." She starts, positioning the camera as Lanie poses beside him.

"What offer?" Paula quickly interjects.

"You see, I have asked Kate to help me with my lyrics since Greg- thanks for that by the way- walked out on me. She graduated top of her class at the academy. She is very smart." Rick grinned proudly.

Kate gasped. "How did you-"

Rick laughed. "Do you think I let people in my house- twice I might add- without looking into them?"

Kate just continued to look at him wide eyed.

"I called up a buddy of mine, turned out he's your boss from the precinct."

She groaned. "Ugh, Roy is so gonna pay for that."

"It's something you should be proud of." Rick smiled at her, their gaze briefly locking.

He hears Lanie clear her throat beside him and Kate refocuses the camera on them. "Yes, and my job is to solve crimes. Not write songs."

"You see it's very hard to find a sane lyricist nowadays. I'm sure you witnessed that. And I really need a song by Friday."

"Well, if you really need it, why can't you just write the song yourself?"

Paula snorts. "Yeah, that's not really a very good idea."

Rick nods in agreement. "I once tried to rhyme you and me with autopsy."

Kate looks down at her feet for a second before looking back up at him. "What am I even supposed to write?" She asks shyly.

"Anyway, thank you for inviting us." She says, trying to pull Lanie with her as the woman grabs the camera from Kate's hand.

Lanie resists from Kate's pull as she pushes her head against him to take a photo. Rick smiles awkwardly at the camera and the moment it snaps, Lanie is already being pulled across the room by Kate.

* * *

"Okay. What was that about?" Lanie waited until they reach the sidewalk before grilling her friend.

Kate just rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Lanie glared. "Please, you know about my thing with the band Pop and Richard Castle. Besides it didn't matter, I was basically invisible back there!" She complains.

"You were not invisible! You got a picture with him." Kate defended.

"Yes, a picture you were supposed to take." Her friend huffed. "But you haven't managed to because you were too busy making googly eyes at each other."

"We were not making... googly eyes." Kate defended. "What does that even mean?"

"Do you have the hots for him?" Lanie asks suddenly making Kate choke on her own breath.

"What?"

"Do you wanna sleep with him?" Her friend rephrases.

"Oh my, God. Lanie!" She admonishes. "I don't wanna sleep with him. I just water his plants."

Lanie snorted causing Kate to give her a glare. Okay, maybe it's not the best choice of words but really. She doesn't have the "hots" for Richard Castle.

"Why didn't you accept his offer to help him then?" Lanie asks after a moment.

"I was going to." Kate starts. "But then I realized I have never really done any writing and it's going be quite huge. I don't wanna be the reason why he'd fail."

"You care about him then?"

"Ugh, Lanie, you're ridiculous." Kate growled, speeding up her steps leaving her friend to jog after her.

She doesn't like Richard Castle. Not in the way Lanie is implying. And with his reputation, she's also pretty sure she won't be the kind of girl Richard Castle would linger his attention to.

* * *

Rick looks around with barely concealed excitement as he entered the threshold of the twelfth precinct the next day.

He pressed the number four on the elevator buttons- it's where he and Roy decided to meet.

The elevator dings its arrival on the floor and he continues his perusal of the place. Despite the fact that it's where criminals are dealt with, the precinct actually looked homey. He spots a uniformed officer and asks him where Montgomery's office is.

He passes a couple of desks, taking a moment to stop and grin when he spots the one with Detective Kate Beckett's nameplate on it.

Rick knocks on the open door of the room where Montgomery is in.

"Rick Castle!" He greets, extending a hand as he rose from his chair. "Welcome to the twelfth."

Rick accepts the offered hand, shaking it firmly. "So this is where Kate works, huh?"

Roy gives him a knowing grin. Oh, no. That's not what he came here for. "She's out to get some lunch for her team. She should be back soon."

"Of course." Rick laughs. "For the mean time, we could talk about a good time for that poker game that's been long since overdue."

Montgomery smirks. "Of course. Although not everyone gets to choose their working hours like you do."

Both men laughed. Rick opens his mouth tto say a word but is cut off by a voice coming from the doorway of the office. "Castle?"

"Kate, hi." He greeted with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" She asks confused, her brows furrowing adorably.

"I came here to borrow you."

That earned him a glare.

"I already asked permission from your captain." Rick says gesturing to Montgomery who is wiggling his eyebrows.

She starts walking back out of the room. "I'm sorry. I can't I got work to do."

"Hey," He calls out, looking back to excuse himself from Montgomery and comes after her at the older man's nod.

"What do you want, Castle?" She asks annoyed as she rifles to the stack of files on her desk.

"I just wanna show you something."

Kate ignores him and starts reading through the notes on her files. Rick just stood there beside her desk unmoving as she tries to work. He can see her agitation rising at his hovering presence.

"I'm not gonna leave unless you're coming with me, you know." He says after a while.

Kate slammed the folder she's holding at her desk and pushes her chair back a little forcefully as she moves to gather her stuffs. "Fine. Let's go."

Rick barely holds back an excited squeak as he follows her into the elevator.

"This better be worth it." She glared at him and he nods eagerly as the elevator starts its descend.

This is so gonna be worth it.

He hopes.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Thank you so much for reading. I hope you're still with me on this ride. xo  
_


	5. Chapter 5

"Do you wanna get a coffee?" Rick asks as they pass by a coffee shop on the corner.

Kate rolled eyes. "This is not a date, Rick."

Rick's eyes widen as he stammers in shock. "I-it's not. U-unless you want it to be?"

"The only reason I'm here walking with you is because you won't stop bothering me." Kate huffed. "Now what is it you wanted to show me?"

Rick took a breath, gathering back his composure before looking ahead for the street sign. "Just one more block."

They walked in silence until they reach a staircase leading down to large wooden doors. Kate reads the sign. "The Old Haunt?"

He nodded eagerly.

"Rick, this is a bar." She groaned. "You told me you're gonna show you something. If that was some sick way of yours to ask me out, I'm leaving now."

"No. No." He's quick to respond. "I mean I own this place."

With the raise of her eyebrow, he continued. "I knew the owner and when he told me it has to be closed, I bought it instead."

"Still, doesn't explain why we're here."

"Well," He starts leading her down the stairs and into the door. "There's a piano in the corner and this is much closer to the precinct than my loft so, I brought you here."

* * *

Kate took in the place as they enter. It is actually nice. Very much unlike the usual cop bars she and her partners go to but it's better. A few patrons are seated in some of the tables despite the early hour and just as he said, a baby grand piano is settled on the corner.

This place has history. She can smell it in the ambiance of the surroundings. And almost as if he can read her mind, Rick speaks up beside her. "This is where I learned to play the piano and discovered my love for music. That's why I didn't want the place to be shut down."

Kate smiled at him. That is so nice of him to preserve such place. And with the fact that he treasures the things that had led him to where he is, she is starting to doubt everything she had learned about him in the gossip section of the paper.

"So, what are you gonna play for me?" She asks and he smiles wide and bright that it makes her look down to hide the little blush that colored her cheeks. He looks good when he smiles and the fact that it's because of her, directed at her, there's a fluttering in her stomach that she can't quite tamp down.

He takes the seat on the piano, grinning up at her and hovered his fingers on the white tiles. He winks once before starting a beautiful melody of a song unknown to her. Then he starts singing and whatever daze she had been in is broken when he starts singing about doing a love autopsy.

"I may be a cop, Castle, but autopsies aren't really what I want to hear about in a song." She chokes out as she tries to hold back her laugh. "Somehow, you're worse than that Greg guy Paula hired for you."

"That's why I need you." He grins. "And I really like it when you call me Castle."

She felt heat creep down her neck. "You don't need me, Rick. You did a pretty good love autopsy out there on your own." She says, finally unable to contain her laugh. "You should do a sequel and call it Your Heart of Graves or something."

"See? You're good!" He defended. "Please?"

She shakes her head. She wants to say yes. After what he just did in the past couple of hours, she knows she'll say yes. But that doesn't mean she can't give him a little more of a hard time. She chuckles to herself. Love autopsy. Ridiculous man. With everything that she read about him in the paper, she never really expected him to be this dedicated about something.

By the time she recovered from her thoughts, she finds him standing right in front of her. Well, that shut her up. He's only inches away and she can smell his cologne from where she's standing. Oh, he doesn't have to be this enticing.

"Say, yes or I'll kiss you, Beckett." Her eyes widened in horror.

What? Oh, no. How did it even get to this? She instinctively takes a step back and thankfully, he doesn't move to follow her. She takes another step and she watches him watching her with those almost predatory look in his bright blue eyes. Oh, damn. Nope, Beckett. Bad idea. Very, very bad idea.

"Okay, I'll help." She says, ducking her head. "I'm on call these days but I don't have to be at the precinct if there are no bodies. I just have to stop by the precinct quickly. I'll meet you at your loft." She says before quickly turning for the door. Away from him. Because if there's anything Kate Beckett is good at, aside from doing her job, it will be running. Running away from people who has the potential to catch her attention- her interest- and dare she say it, her heart. And she's afraid that Rick Castle, whom she barely even knew, already got through step one.

* * *

Rick's smirk fades the moment Kate Beckett walked out the door. He really isn't sure what just happened. Sure, he's attracted to Kate Beckett-who wouldn't be? She's unbelievably gorgeous and obviously smart, but he didn't really mean to do that just to get her to help him. He may be a jackass sometimes but he has high respects for her and her choice of profession. He cringes. Her proffesion. Yep, that was a bad idea.

Okay. He breathes through a new resolve. From now on, he's gonna make sure that it won't happen again. As to not push her away, whatever relationship he and Beckett will have is gonna remain platonic. Not that he wants anything more. Nope. Not at all. He just needs a new lyricist soon and Beckett sounds like a really good choice, not mention a pretty good sight and company.

Okay, seriously he needs to stop that. He doesn't want the woman to think he's some creep and actually give her reasons to believe whatever is published about him in the newspapers.

Rick stands from his seat on the piano to make his way out to catch a cab. He's got three days to write the song that Cora asked of him and if there's anything he learned this past couple of days, it's that Kate Beckett can be quite an inspiration. So, as the cab slips into the New York traffic, he allows the traitorous thought of her fill his mind. He might as well get them out before he meets her again.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** I apologize for the delay on this chapter, I had to deal with too many stuffs lately. Anyways, this chapter is shorter but I hope you still liked it. Also, I have made a little change on the Chapter 2 of this story because I have decided to include Alexis for the future chapters. Although, you do not have to read the chapter again since it hasn't affected the already published parts of this story. I just wanted to give you all a heads up in case you ever wondered how Alexis managed to show up later._

 _As always, thank you all for reading. You can all reach me on my tumblr: drstanakaticx if you want :)) Till the next chapter. xoxo_


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